Why Trump's latest meeting with Kim Jong-un is a victory for the world

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Donald Trump’s second meeting with Kim Jong-un has been widely dismissed as ill-judged and inconsequential.

I don’t agree. Last week’s Hanoi summit, while yielding no agreement, already ranks among the most important diplomatic events of 2019 – not only due to the high-stakes geopolitics but also the economic symbolism involved.

During the first year of Trump’s presidency, relations between the US and North Korea were truly frightening. Kim stretched Washington’s patience throughout much of 2017, launching monthly ballistic missile tests, including over the Japanese mainland.

Trump tightened US sanctions on Pyongyang, threatened “fire and fury like the world has never seen”, while openly mocking...